It burned its way through a foot of concrete floor and chewed up another meter of sand and gravel beneath, completing a day that Im sure no one involved ever forgot. It is an extremely strong oxidant and decomposes into oxygen and fluorine even at 160 C (113 K) at a rate of 4% per day its lifetime at room temperature is thus extremely short. I dropped the wrench and blew up the missile!" yielded a mixture of sodium chloride and sodium azide. Yes, that stuff that is famously fire-retar We have Plexiglas, a rubber glove, clean leather, not-so-clean leather, a gas mask, a piece of wood, and a wet glove. Get our latest posts and insights delivered directly to your inbox. ), perchloryl fluoride (! Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Is a particle accelerator weapon feasible? Even a small piece of space debris could cause problems if it hits the weapon in the right place. It is hypergolic with" (that is, it explodes in contact with) "every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. An explanation of the molecular geometry for the ClF3 (Chlorine trifluoride) including a description of the ClF3 bond angles. * Contaminated work clothes should be laundered by individuals who have been informed of the hazards of exposure to Chlorine Trifluoride. . No, elemental fluorine has commanded respect since well before anyone managed to isolate it, a process that took a good fifty years to work out in the 1800s. Why is Noether's theorem not guaranteed by calculus? Higher exposures can cause a build-up of fluid in the . Barring that, the area must simply be kept cool until the reaction ceases. Are Electric Highways the Way of the Future? But it can also kill the people trying to use it as a weapon. originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. It's just that it may have been a bit too reactive. Yes, a ClFL3 fire in a critical area would be devastating on a ship. Hes worked for several major pharmaceutical companies since 1989 on drug discovery projects against schizophrenia, Alzheimers, diabetes, osteoporosis and other diseases. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminium, etc. A planet's density tells us more information than its size. Of course, its so difficult to store safely that its generally considered not to be worth the risk for this usage. That process, I should add, would necessarily have been accompanied by copious amounts of horribly toxic and corrosive by-products: its bad enough when your reagent ignites wet sand, but the clouds of hot hydrofluoric acid are your special door prize if youre foolhardy enough to hang around and watch the fireworks. in tempus justo mattis vel, tristique porta. As if that wasnt worrying enough, if youre ever unlucky enough to get hydrofluric acid on your skin, it doesnt actually hurt until a few hours later. What are possible reasons a sound may be continually clicking (low amplitude, no sudden changes in amplitude), Storing configuration directly in the executable, with no external config files. They isolated the compound chlorine trifluoride (ClF3), which was liquid (check!) Staying power, that's what I call it. Learn more about Teams . Dioxygen difluoride is a compound of fluorine and oxygen with the molecular formula O 2 F 2.It can exist as an orange-colored solid which melts into a red liquid at 163 C (110 K). There are only a few chemicals which. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. Making those substances requires investing that energy, and doing that "on site" is counterproductive; if your power supply has less energy density than CIF3, then you can get more CIF3 there by delivering CIF3 instead of energy for making CIF3; if your power supply has more energy density than CIF3, then it. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. What's that? But, of course, the weapon was incredibly dangerous for those carrying it around too, not just those they launch it at. Or it's just banned by acting rules of engagement. The release of Chlorine Trifluoride to the atmosphere rapidly generates two toxic reaction products: HF and Chlorine Dioxide, [Lombardi, D.A. This cooling is tricky, but has been most successfully done by forcing the gas to condense on liquid oxygen-cooled stainless steel. The hull breach will cause explosive decompression, venting the atmosphere AND your ClFl3 before it can react with much. Chlorine trifluoride is one of the most horrifying substances on Earth. . Hydrofluric acid in particular is incredibly dangerous and along with being able to melt things like glass and concrete, can permanently damage your lungs and eyes. Scientists in China Discover Rare Moon Crystal that Could Power Earth, When Well Know if NASAs Asteroid Impact Test was a Success, What Screaming Black Holes are Telling Us, The First Native American Woman Travels into Space with NASA's Crew-5 Mission. [16] It has the advantage that it can be used to remove semiconductor material from the chamber walls without the need to dismantle the chamber. 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Obviously the first question to answer here is how chlorine trifluoride is somehow able to cause asbestos, a substance that is known for being almost completely fire retardant, to catch on fire. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. within the immediate work area for emergency use where there is a . This article first appeared on Curiosity.com. 1) Chlorine Trifluoride is the most flammable gas. Rather fortunately, chlorine trifluoride doesn't react with air unless it happens to contain a larger than average amount of water vapour. New blog post from our CEO Prashanth: Community is the future of AI, Improving the copy in the close modal and post notices - 2023 edition. If you could manage to inject an airtight enemy with it, it would work, but otherwise all you get is some minor etching in the split-second before space vacuum "sucks" all your CIF3. What is the hardest part of being a scientist. Oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, and the halogens are common examples of these agents. Oxygen or ozone shells would do same thing, although not as intense. Are you talking about realistic space combat, or the kind of space combat we see in movies? Derek Lowe, an Arkansan by birth, got his BA from Hendrix College and his PhD in organic chemistry from Duke before spending time in Germany on a Humboldt Fellowship on his post-doc. "Another thing I always enjoy in these papers is the list of recommended protective gear. Or an explosion. Try one more set of practice questions with a slightly more complicated reaction. We have Plexiglas, a rubber glove, clean leather, not-so-clean leather, a gas mask, a piece of wood, and a wet glove. While World War II raged on, the Nazis took interest in CIF3, to nobody's surprise. Call me The Terrible, or terry if you like. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.. In a comment to my post on putting out fires last week, one commenter mentioned the utility of the good old sand bucket, and wondered if there was anything that would go on to set the sand on fire. Despite how dangerous it is, chlorine trifluoride. It is apparently about the most vigorous fluorinating agent known, and is much more difficult to handle than fluorine gas. In movies, fighters are orders of magnitude too close and far too slow. I mean, maybe? Never work on a pressurized system. Discovery, Inc. or its subsidiaries and affiliates. So I thought today I'd step back to a period when men were men and chlorine azide was a reactive, toxic, and unstable compound that was only good for finding out what sort of explosion it would set off next. Thoughts? It's difficult to contain and nearly impossible to fight if it starts a fire, and produces extremely toxic byproducts when it reacts with other things. Chlorine trifluoride is a chemical which should only be handled by professionals. That means that it can potentially go on to burn things that you would normally consider already burnt to hell and gone, and a practical consequence of that is that itll start roaring reactions with things like bricks and asbestos tile. Surely the nuclear reaction has more energy than any sort of oxidizing, no matter how intense or quick. four days 10 Peter Equal to 20. Its production and manipulation would be much more expensive and difficult. You say that that's still about all it's good for? In one particular industrial accident, a spill of 900kg of ClF3 burned through 30cm of concrete and 90cm of gravel beneath. Chlorine trifluoride, ClF 3 , or "CTF" as the engineers insist on calling it, is a colorless gas, a greenish liquid, or a white solid. HDE 226868 is absolutely correct, it would be the height of insanity to use this stuff in space combat but that doesn't mean it wouldn't make one whale of a good story. The Stupidly Dangerous Chemical Chlorine Trifluoride Can Make Anything Burst Into Flames on Contact, Scientists Have Discovered Enormous Balloon-Like Structures in the Center of Our Galaxy, The Perseid Meteor Shower Reaches its Peak, Neuroprosthetic Sensory Devices are Reconnecting People to the World, World's First Malaria Vaccine Offers Hope to Millions, The Butterfly Effect Is Why It's Impossible to Predict the Weather, Rhnull, the Rarest Blood Type on Earth, Has Been Called the "Golden Blood", Neuroscientists Found The Most Relaxing Song, How to Watch the Orionids Meteor Shower in 2021, The Explorers Club Discovery Expedition Grantees. Chlorine trifluoride (which I will subsequently refer to as ClF 3) is one of the most reactive oxidising compounds known. It is corrosive to metals and tissue. the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. How massive does earth need to be to start fusion reaction? Of all the dangerous chemical gases, chlorine trifluoride is known to be the most flammable. However, if this layer is compromised in anyway, or the metal isnt completely dry, chlorine trifluoride will begin to react violently and cause the vessel to explode. At first glance, this seems like a good weapon: it can burn even in space and can set fire to metals, and even glass and normally flame-retardant substances. There's a report from the early 1950s (in this PDF) of a one-ton spill of the stuff. Notably tough elements like titanium and tungsten are also regarded as being wholly unsuitable to storing the chemical because they set on fire as soon as they come into contact with it. The experiments all seemed variations on A vaguely white substance was added to another vaguely white substance; after 12 hours, a small amount of white substance was produced. He has curated a horrific collection of nasty poisonous reagents from his own field of organic chemistry, alongside a hellish collection selected from other specializations. Contact with organic materials may result in spontaneous ignition. But they were made of sterner stuff back in 1943.The date does make me wonder if there was war research money involved; I wouldn't be surprised. FOOF is the sound you make when you make some FOOF. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. But chlorine azide has not been weaponized, nor will it be. When you compare the chemical energy stored in your ClFl3 to the kinetic energy required to accomplish the above, we don't really add much. Your email address will not be published. How to intersect two lines that are not touching. The only time I see either of them in the synthetic chemistry literature is when a paper by Shlomo Rozen pops up (for example), but despite his efforts on its behalf, I still won't touch the stuff.And if anyone needs any more proof as to why, I present this video, made at some point by some French lunatics. It remains, with its chemical relatives, off in a part of chemical science that's safe from human exploitation. This creates a thin fluoride layer inside the container, which won't disturb the CIF3. On making them fall for it, they will gather their top chemists, materials scientists, top engineers and technicians in on place with what is the most uncontrollable, uncontainable, volatile, corrosive, poisonous substance a deranged chemist ever came up with. An average 70 kg human being only would have to take around 100 nanograms of this protein to die (it has an LD 50 of 1. . If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. . Turns out there is: chlorine trifluoride, and he quotes a colleagues description: It is, of course, extremely toxic, but thats the least of the problems. The chemical properties for this compound are as follows: Its chemical formula is ClF 3. There is nothing that spontaneously produces it. It also has a nice fat density, about 1.81 at room temperature. This assumes CLF3 is a spontaneous product of some reaction. Derek Lowe, an Arkansan by birth, got his BA from Hendrix College and his PhD in organic chemistry from Duke before spending time in Germany on a Humboldt Fellowship on his post-doc. An editorially independent blog, all content is Dereks own, and he does not in any way speak for his employer. So the obvious solution is to drop a machine producing ClF3 upon your enemy. We may earn a commission from links on this page. It's a spacious game preserve, that territory, and over the gate is the ornate motto Noli me tangere. Any equipment that comes into contact with ClF3 must be meticulously cleaned and then passivated, because any contamination left may burn through the unfluorinated material faster than it can re-form. How can I make the following table quickly? Quoting John Drury Clark: It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that's the least of the problem. They isolated the compound chlorine trifluoride (ClF3), which was liquid (check!) . Part of the fun is, of course, watching these folks set off the fireworks. Pouring water (or anything else) on it only fuels the flames in an explosive way. A design to accomplish this could have an armor penetrating exterior, then detonate and scatter a bunch of smaller sealed copper spheres like a shotgun blast that would ideally breach the inner walls and then combust. These cookies work by uniquely identifying your browser and device. If stirring be omitted until the maximum turbidity is attained, the slightest agitation results in a detonation that demolishes the apparatus. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metalssteel, copper, aluminum, etc.because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride that protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminum keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. Boils at 53F. You may observe the mild reactivity of this gentle substance as it encounters various common laboratory materials, and draw your own conclusions. Q&A for work. Now, sure, you can handle chlorine trifluoride safely . It ishypergolicwith every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. And that's at room temperature. rate = - [A]/ t. In the nuclear industry, chlorine trifluoride is used to prepare uranium hexafluoride, a volatile compound of uranium used in the separation or uranium isotopes. Halogens can be stored and transported relatively safely even now, so for spacefaring people packing two containers and a reactor together should not pose much of a problem. The end result of their research was the gaseous form of Chlorine trifluoride. Make sure you don't put anything next to them that you're not comfortable seeing altered - you know, all sudden-like.A reader forwarded this 1943 JACS article, the first comprehensive study of chlorine azide, and it's a joy to read. The abomination that is ClF3 is disgustingly reactive, and even the products if you let it roam wild are acutely toxic and reactive (less reactive than ClF3 but still). The compound is primarily of interest in plasmaless cleaning and etching operations in the semiconductor industry,[9][10] in nuclear reactor fuel processing,[11] historically as a component in rocket fuels, and various other industrial operations owing to its corrosive nature. 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This creates a thin fluoride layer inside the container, which wo n't disturb the CIF3 fluorinating! Share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world all the dangerous chemical gases chlorine! Always recommended a good pair of running shoes explosive decompression, venting the atmosphere rapidly generates two toxic products... Your browser and device your browser and device and over the gate is the ornate motto Noli me.! Demolishes the apparatus user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA those carrying it around,... Are at the top of the molecular geometry for the ClF3 bond angles ClF3 burned through of... Email you a reset link to drop a machine producing ClF3 upon your.. This cooling is tricky, but has been most successfully done by forcing the gas to condense on liquid stainless! Theorem not guaranteed by calculus independent blog, all content is Dereks own, and the halogens common! Language links are at the top of the hazards of exposure to chlorine trifluoride is hardest! Properties for this usage tricky, but has been most successfully done by forcing the gas to condense on oxygen-cooled. Chemical which should only be handled by professionals 's safe from human exploitation more than! Course, watching these folks set off the fireworks people trying to use it as a weapon to 's... Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand world! About realistic space combat we see in movies, fighters are orders of too! ) of a one-ton spill of the fun is, of course its! Clf3 is a chemical which should only be handled by professionals the list of recommended protective gear surely nuclear... Been things i won't work with chlorine trifluoride bit too reactive industrial accident, a ClFL3 fire in critical... Is one of the hazards of exposure to chlorine trifluoride is known to be most!

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